Girl Scouts of Central Maryland provide grounding, empowerment

BALTIMORE (Map, News) - In a popular culture that sends mixed messages on feminine empowerment, the Girl Scouts of Central Maryland are undeterred with their message of personal growth.

“Our program is built around leadership development,” said Traci Barnett, executive director of the 26-year-old service organization to Maryland girls ages 5 to 17. “Basically what we are looking at is how to teach girls the skills they are going to need in the future.”

Maryland has one of the largest Girl Scouts councils in the United States, with 28,000 scouts and 10,000 registered adult volunteers. The nonprofit imbues its “confidence, courage, character” motto into future mothers and managers through traditional troop organization mentoring and direct staff visits to high schools and youth centers.

Its 2,700 volunteer state troops deliver adult-supervised instruction in such life skills as public speaking and wellness, finance and economics, nature study and environmentalism, self-esteem and addiction-avoidance, and science and engineering through regular troop meetings at area schools or churches.

Its paid staff, of which there are 70 full-time and 40 part-time summer employees, conducts essentially the same training at 67 Baltimore City high schools, two state correctional institutions and other venues.

“Girl Scouting is more important than ever.” Barnett said, deploring today’s lack of proper role models for girls. “The threat is that girls underestimate what they can do with their lives if they don’t have a good mentor to help them.”

The nonprofit’s signature “Beyond Bars” program, which helps incarcerated mothers and their daughters optimize their situation through discussion, reflection, goal-setting and parenting skills training, has been in existence for 15 years and has been replicated at 36 other councils.

“It’s really a pleasure working with them,” said Kathleen Brennan, spokeswoman for the Junior League of Central Maryland. “Their passion for educating young girls is such a beautiful thing to work with. You can feel their excitement. They can’t fake that.”

An $8 million-a-year organization that operates four area scouting camps, the Girl Scouts of Central Maryland currently is raising $1.5 million to improve its downtown facility to make its dance, exercise and yoga programs and nature experiences more accessible to inner-city girls.

“It’s probably one of the most vital organizations in our society today,” said Carolyn Maguire-Frenkil, president of Baltimore’s Substance Abuse Foundation for Education and Research. “They’re getting to children, dealing with the issues, and making a difference.”

Girl Scouts of Central Maryland

4806 Seton Drive,

Baltimore, MD 21215

410-358-9711; www.gscm.org